Teen galaxy spotted in stellar 'growth spurt'

CALL it a cosmic growth spurt. A young galaxy is making stars 100 times as vigorously as our own.

SMM J21350-0102 is shrouded in dust, which hides it from most telescopes. But the Atacama Pathfinder Experiment (APEX) in Chile spotted the galaxy via sub-millimetre radio waves emitted by the dust. Light from the galaxy is absorbed by the dust, emitted as infrared, and stretched to radio wavelengths as the universe expands.

Its brightness and size are magnified by a galaxy cluster that lies in front of it. This let a team led by Mark Swinbank of the University of Durham, UK, resolve individual clouds of star formation. They calculate that the galaxy churns out 250 suns a year (Nature, DOI: 10.1038/nature08880).

The team think a merger of galaxies is driving star formation, "but we do ...

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